Last summer, I spent a week away from Cottage in Southern Brittany. It was a delightful holiday and I did take pictures to show you, but as my old cat, Piano, died a few days after I came back home, I wasn't really in the mood to blog.

During that time away, I visited the factory that makes the famous Quimper factory. You won't see it, though, as pictures were forbidden inside. Many things were kept a secret... We saw how the pieces were made from start to finish, but the recipesfor the clay or the colours were not given, of course. I spend a wonderful afternoon there and by chance, one piece caught my attention. I saw several phases of its making, as when we arrived in the first room, a worker, or maybe I should say an artist, was molding it and then when we were in the oven room, this piece was waiting on a tray, ready to be baked.

So when I visited the store, I decided to buy it to decorate the bookcase and to remember this day. It was way more expensive than things I usually buy for myself, so I had it gift-wrapped as it was a gift to myself. And I waited for the bookcase to be painted to open my gift!

Friday, February 22, 2019

Bookcase Update - part 3

For a whole evening, after the parts of the bookcase were delivered, I couldn't use my living-room. The delivery men had just brought the parts in and let them where they could, so the next day I even had difficulties catching a pair of shoes in the cupboard under the stairs as a huge box was stuck in front of it!

If you've read the blog for a little while, you know I like to do things on my own, eventually with the help of a supervising cat or two. But for once, I had to call for help and a friend kindly came to play Tetris with really big boxes...

The four parts of the bookcase were attached two by two, which wasn't that easy as Cottage's floor isn't perfectly leved. That also made more complicated the moment we tried to put the crown molding on top of everything.

Now of course, a bookcase should have bookshelves… They are all piled in two boxes near the blue armchair. They aren't in place yet… There's a very good reason why. Can you guess? Answer in the next post...

Petite Blonde: Well, I found on the Internet someone who makes beautiful furniture in Southern France.

Cottage: What? Don't you think it would be easier to find someone closer?

Petite Blonde: I haven't found anyone nearby so far and I have a good feeling about this because the workshop is located in a town near the one I spent my summers as a kid (and as a teenager and as an adult).

Petite Blonde: He does. And he can makes it to the measures I want so it'll fit your wall, while letting space against the stone wall. I also asked him to change the handles from what was shown on his website and he agreed. I think he was very understanding.

Cottage: Hey, hey? What's all that? I feel like I can't breathe anymore...

Petite Blonde: So sorry, Cottage. I hadn't anticipated that the four different parts of the bookcase would be delivered all wrapped up in cardbox, with the crown molding in a separate box and the shelves in two other boxes...

Cottage: It's funny how every single time you think it's going to be easy... It's like you're a begginner at renovating with each new project!

Petite Blonde: I didn't find it particularly funny when no one was interested in my project, some carpenters told me it was impossible, others that they didn't work with wood anymore, most didn't even bother to send a quote.

Cottage: So it was decided to move the radiator to the other wall.

Petite Blonde: And while we were at it, to upgrade it to a prettier and more efficient one.

Cottage: Then you sold the small bookshelf and we had a clean slate downstairs... And an awful mess of piles of books upstairs!

Petite Blonde: Please don't forget to mention that I painted the wall and the baseboard. It was a lot of work!

Cottage: Yes, yes, and you had to do it in quite a hurry because at that point things accelerated...

Petite Blonde: Why don't we leave that for the next post?

Cottage: Are you sure it's not dangerous? The computer could stop working tomorrow?

Petite Blonde: Let's hope for the best!

Cottage: Readers, if you ever want to see what happened to that wall, I'd advise you to keep your fingers crossed. I don't understand how something so much younger that me as the computer is can be in such a bad shape...

PS: All the pictures in this post are "candids". This project took nearly a whole year and at some point, I stopped taking pictures for the blog because I thought it would never become reality, so I tried to find a few pictures I took for various reasons that could illustrate it. But they are real life pcitures, with books on the coffee table and a jar of almonds...

Before I begin the real topic of this post, I'd like to explain that since the beginning of January we've had only grey or very grey days here. So when I came back from school one afternoon and there was a glimpse of sun, I grabbed my camera to snap a few pictures. I had no time to arrange the pillows or even to put away my mug as I noticed later on the pictures. The Christmas decoration on the mantel had been removed, but I hadn't had time to redo something. But it was either that and I had pictures for a post or no post at all!

The first thing was to remove all the concrete that had been put there to close the chimney. For a while, it stayed that way as there were other priorities at Cottage. I was lucky to find a beautiful wood mantel and a beautiful mirror that I used to make this area pretty.

Then, a stove was added. It had been my dream for a while. I thought it would be an easy project... But due to security measures, the wood mantel was a problem. I decided to save most of it by cutting its legs so that it could be raised about two feet above it's previous height. But then, the mirror looked really weird as it was rather tall and seemed out of proportion above the higher mantel (I don't have a picture, but with the workers we tried and it looked just off).

I immediately went on my favourite second-hand website to check for mirrors. And I found the perfect one... But it was in the remote countryside, about an hour and a half from Cottage and a little expensive. If some of you remember, my cat Shadow had had a big surgery at the same time the stove arrived at Cottage, I tried not to let him on his own except for work or quick shopping trips. So I didn't call the seller.

Then, the last month of 2018 were entirely dedicated to the living-room improvement (yes, I have a few things to show you, if only the sun could come out so I could snap a few pictures) and the mirror was again on my mind.

I went back to my favourite second-hand website, knowing it would be very difficult to find something I like since I was still in love with the one I had seen one year ago. And there it was, still on the website, waiting for someone to love it... and at half its previous price. There was only one problem for me... Finding it in its little country home when my GPS had died a few months before... I called the seller. She was a charming lady and she agreed to drive a little herself to bring me the mirror on the Ikea parking (where I could drive to with no GPS).

I'm trying to give my living-room the same atmosphere I gave the kitchen : a lot of white, touches of green and blue and touches of wood. The mirror adds the warmth that was needed in this part of Cottage and I helps giving the idea that the living-room is soon to be finished!

Friday, January 04, 2019

Top Five Cottage Improvements According To The Cats

I know it's customary to do a "best posts" post of the previous year at the beginning of a new year on blogs. It's not that I'm rebel, but I don't think it would be interesting if I did that this year. It's not that I didn't work on Cottage in 2018... I did. A lot. But most of my work doesn't make for beautiful posts.

I finished painting the living-room walls... I can't tell you how happy I am about that... But as I painted the last wall the same Pordic white as the others... It doesn't make a huge difference on pictures. I also painted all the baseboards for this room... It's a tiring job to apply three coats of white scrawling on your knees, but again, not a huge transformation on picture. I painted the bathroom ceiling, but as this is the only thing done in this room, I'm not showing it to you. In 2018, I also placed an order for a huge piece that is to transform the living-room... But I can't really take a picture of an order, can I?

When we bought Cottage, there was a wall separating the kitchen and what was a bedroom and became my dining-room. When the wall was removed, I chose, against the current trend, to rebuild a half-wall with a shelf on top of it. To me, the idea was to be able to hide a cupboard behind it and to have a place to out a lamp and a vase. But Shadow decided the shelf was a perfect observation spot as he could see from there the kitchen, the road, the dining-room and the garden!

For the first years at Cottage, I kept my old couch that could be turned into a bed but was very uncomfortable. Then, I bought a couch and an armchair so that my guests would be more comfortable and also to make conversation easier (it's really difficult to share a conversation when everybody sits in a row like ducks). The cats do indeed find the new furniture very comfortable...

Having a fireplace had been my dream since I was a little girl... It took some time to add it to Cottage as the chimney had been closed at some point of its history. It has become the cats' dream... They love sleeping in front of the fire.

The bathroom is a work in progress (not much progress yet). But as Shadow has always loved being in this room for some unknown reason, he's enjoying very much the basket on the shelf next to the bathtub.

When we bought Cottage, the only way for the cats to watch outside was from the downstairs windows. Upstairs, there were only roof windows, which I didn't like as I was too short to see anything from them but the sky. Two dormer windows were added: one in the office and one in my bedroom. I love them, and so do the cats! Shadow spends a lot of time there and every night he has the same routine. When I go to bed, he comes purring against me while I read. When I turn the light off, he jumps on the dormer window sill to check everything is ok before crawling back in bed.

About Me

I purchased an old fisherman's cottage that needs a complete makeover. Here I share renovation, decoration, inspiration, doubts and my everyday life in a house going under renovation while being lived in! Join me in the fun and the dust!